Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Night at the Theatre

Today, we had our usual 6 hours of class, but in the evening we had to attend a theater performance for our language class. It was... interesting. It made me realize that even though I can converse fairly well, and understand announcements and classroom remarks, I still have a long way to go before I am a French master. I, as well as many of my classmates, failed miserably at understanding what the play was about.
We knew before that it had something to do with Africa and that it was written collectively by the students who produced and acted in it. There were 6 actors.
Afterwards, we flocked around one of our classmates who had actually understood the piece, but we are also going to talk about it tomorrow in class. The gist of it was that there was some sort of business group working in Africa where there were no dark-skinned people, only whites, and they were trying to create a market for these bizarre products that people would have no need for. There was a bar in their workplace, and they had their days all planned out for them and didn't need to do anything outside of work. There was also a woman who had moved again from Asia for her husband`s work and wasn't adjusting to the new culture well. There was also a rebel force working against them for some reason...
Yeah, if you`re confused, please try to imagine all of that taking place in FRENCH with multiple entries into the work of absurd theater. My brain is tired.
But it was a good experience, and the audience really appreciated the show. Instead of a standing ovation, they just kept clapping until the actors came back out and took another bow. Our teacher also said that she was very moved by the piece, so I`m hoping that when we discuss it tomorrow I can better understand it.
Happy Tuesday!